Asian Lettuce Wraps

This was a delicious recipe. Full of flavour and tastes like it came from a real Asian restaurant.

Here's what you'll need:

 

Asian Lettuce Wraps (http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/asian-lettuce-wraps/)

2 tsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb ground chicken
3 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped- (don't like mushrooms, so I used red peppers)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 C bagged coleslaw mix or thinly shredded cabbage
1 8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained, rinsed, and finely minced
1/2 C thinly sliced green onions
4 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 lemon, zested and juiced (about 3-4 Tbs juice)
1/2-1 tsp sriracha or other hot sauce (1 tsp of Sriracha is fairly spicy in my opinion, so if you want less or no kick, just give it a little, or you can leave it out completely)
1/3 C roughly chopped cilantro
1-2 heads iceberg lettuce

Dipping/Drizzling Sauce
4 Tbs soy sauce
4 Tbs rice vinegar
3 Tbs water
2 tsp honey
1-2 tsp finely minced fresh ginger

Heat a very large skillet to medium-high heat on the stove top.  When hot, add vegetable  oil and then garlic and ginger.  Saute for about 30 seconds, until fragrant, and then add ground chicken, chopped mushrooms, and kosher salt.  Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until chicken is cooked through.  (*At this point, sometimes I have some extra liquid in the pan from the chicken.  If it’s quite a bit, I tilt the pan and spoon it out so the chicken can cook and not boil.) Add cabbage/coleslaw, water chestnuts, and green onions.  Cook for about 2 minutes, until cabbage starts to wilt.  Add soy sauce, sesame oil, the zest from the lemon and the lemon juice, and hot sauce to taste.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.
To prepare dipping sauce, combine all ingredients and whisk to combine.

To serve, carefully remove the individual leaves from the head of lettuce.  (The closer you get to the center, the easier it becomes!)  Place chicken mixture in the leaves and serve with sauce.

Yield: about 5 C chicken mixture.  Makes 14-16 lettuce wraps.

Nutritional Information (4 wraps per person)

243 calories
17g carbs
11g fat
25g protein
3g fibre
7g sugar

Here's the lovely chicken mixture. I tripled the hot chili sauce amount for a bit more of a kick.

Ok this was hard.... pulling whole leaves off the icerberg lettuce!!!

I made some basmati rice to go on the side and here's the filling.

And here is the little Asian Lettuce Wrap. Let me tell you, I loved it!!! Melanie tried a few, but they were 'so, so' for her. Brent had a few and then gave up and put the chicken mixture over the rice and drizzled some of the dipping sauce. So maybe it's a grown up girl meal?